With most of Bermuda's teenage students set to be amalgamated into Cedarbridge Academy in September, the 32nd and final Secondary Schools Track and Field Championships under the current format begins today.

To mark the transition, 4 x 100-metres relay teams from all schools will parade and assemble in the middle of the field prior to the meet's final event. Each school will present their official necktie, which will be joined to others to form the finish line.

The first non-segregated inter-school sports competition took place in 1966 and since then it has borne several of the Island's greatest athletes.

Included among those are past and present Olympians, CARIFTA, Commonwealth, CAC and World Championship athletes such as Mike Sharpe, Clarence Saunders, Brian Wellman, Devon Bean, Debbie Jones, Candy Ford, Gregory Simons, Cal Dill, Sonya Smith and Troy Douglas.

National coach Gerry Swan and Randy Benjamin will be in charge of the meet, which gets underway at 9 a.m. today with field events. Track moves to the forefront tomorrow.

Competition will take place in three age categories -- under-13, under-15 and over-15.

Defending overall champions Berkeley Institute are favoured to take most of the honours, while Warwick Secondary also look set to grab a share.

Patrina Swan leads the charge for the Pembroke school as a likely competitor in the 400 and 800 metres, as well as long jump. Swan is the reigning Front Street Mile champion and recently represented Bermuda at the CARIFTA Games in Barbados.

She will be accompanied by the likes of shot put and discus thrower Latanya Dickerson, Reneika Bean, who last year set a new under-13 girls high jump record of five feet, two inches, Gabriel Wilkinson (shot put, discus, javelin) and 13-year-old middle distance runner Richard Walcott (400, 800, 1,500).

Another CARIFTA competitor heads the list for Warwick, with sprinter Tariq Hewey competing in the 100 and 200 metres. Hewey, a senior, has been timed at 10.5 seconds for the 100.

Kelvin Charles (javelin), Kemon Curtis (100, 200, long jump) and Joseph Butterfield (triple jump) join Hewey.

Other notables include Jarita Dill from Saltus, who will tackle fields in the 200 and 400 and Lamont Marshall, one of those to be featured in the 800, 1,500 and 3,000.